Fancy a brew?

Laura Mansfield investigates the art of domestic revival with Salford designer Megan Price, AKA Mr. PS

Pots of tea, gingham tablecloths and home-baked cupcakes surround the contemporary consumer. With the resurgence in 1950s design evident everywhere – from Cath Kidston’s floral bags, mugs and knick-knacks to the ubiquitous Keep Calm and Carry On poster – the great British public has an apparently insatiable appetite for products that celebrate a very particular ‘make do and mend’ design ethic.

The Salford-based Mr. PS is at the heart of this trend. Megan Price, the designer behind an eclectic range of handmade tea towels, mugs and tote bags who set up the label in 2005, is celebrating the leap from craft fair circuit to high street, courtesy of an order from that stalwart of British design, Liberty. With bright colours, line drawings and bold text, Mr. PS prints clearly take their inspiration from antique signage, trips to the seaside and food and drink. ‘I love looking at the choices people have made to get their message across,’ says Price, ‘be it the beautiful design of British sweetshop owners Hope and Greenwood, or a local cafe with do-it-yourself menus in the window.’ Full English Breakfast is typical of the Mr. PS style, with its chunky hand written text recognisable to anyone who’s ever been inside a greasy spoon, while Price’s Fancy A Brew print treads the line between contemporary design and British irony – it’s currently Price’s best-selling design.

‘As the British high street becomes more homogenised, with the same logos and branding splashed across shop fronts,’ says Price, ‘there is a counter movement of artists, designers, retailers and consumers wishing to claim back a sense of identity that celebrates the creativity and diversity of the UK. The growth of the DIY craft movement, and the cutting back brought about by the recession, means that people are going back to a more home-spun way of life. We are spending more time at home, and want to surround ourselves not only with home comforts, but with designs that reflect our way of life.’

V&A curator Sue Prichard somewhat worryingly puts the trend for homely crafts down to the development of women’s social roles. ‘There’s certainly a movement towards a new domesticity. People, especially women, are starting to think about the way they live their lives,’ she says. ‘It’s 40 years since the first women’s liberation conference was held in Oxford. Since that time we’ve been in the workplace, and we’ve had the opportunity of choice. Now we’re deliberately choosing to go back into the home.’

Whether or not you agree that women want to return to the home (and many would take issue with that statement, not least of all the entire Creative Tourist team), there does seem to be widespread evidence of a return to valuing handmade goods – or at least a desire to personalize our otherwise Ikea interiors. Perhaps, too, there is a growing awareness that ‘Made in Britain’ is a way to bypass the sweatshop: buying local is an easy way to up your green credentials. And online shops such as Etsy and Big Cartel mean it’s never been easier to buy work by independent designers.

Back in Salford, in Islington Mill, Price has found a community that keeps her motivated and inspired. The industrial heritage of the former warehouse seems especially apt to her. ‘It feels quite appropriate that I am making tea towels in a former cotton-spinning mill,’ she says. Mr PS may be now be on the high street, but Megan Price’s home is forever in Cottonopolis.

WIN A TOTE BAG DESIGNED BY MEGAN PRICE & READ OUR LIST OF THE TOP INDEPENDENT CRAFT DESIGNERS.

Mr.PS, Islington Mill, James Street, Salford. The studio is open on Friday afternoons by appointment only. Megan Price’s work will also appear in the forthcoming exhibition Teatopia at Sheffield’s Millenium Gallery , until 24 October. Laura Mansfield is a writer and researcher based in Manchester. She has written on artists’ work for a variety of publications including, AN, Circa, and Arty.

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